Isn't it Midnight?
by HaveAHeart0301
Summary: Ike's party leaves Tellius forever, and those they have left behind are but a memory. One-shot, for meguin the penguin's birthday. Slight Ike/Elincia, Soren/Lucia, and Ranulf/Mia.


**Isn't it Midnight?**

**--**

_**A/N:**__ Well, this is a birthday present for my cousin - __**meguin the penguin**_**, **_based upon her request of Ike/Elincia, Soren/Lucia, and Ranulf/Mia. I was ordered not to include character deaths, so enjoy the happiest plot I could muster in such a short time... Oh, and the title comes from a Fleetwood Mac song._

_--_

The queen of Crimea twirled a full three hundred and sixty degrees counterclockwise, examining the dress she had just put on. She curtsied, walked forward three steps, stepped back two paces, and spun once again. She shook her head at the attendant that was standing to the right of the closed door of her bedchambers. "You don't like the dress, Your Highness?" the attentive servant queried in response to the lady's gesture and facial expression.

"There's just...something about it," the emerald-haired maiden replied, glancing at the pure white gown with its carefully stitched floral pattern leading down the skirt. "Perhaps I'm not even in the mood to think about the wedding," she sighed, sitting down on a nearby chair.

"You have a lot to worry about," the other woman commented, brushing the lavender hair from before her eyes. The woman's pale blue orbs brought a smile to the queen's lips. Though Fleurette was merely the eldest daughter of one of Melior's peasants, Elincia had grown close to her over the years she had served her family. The young woman continued, "You have your country to run, all of the nobles to please, your wedding and all of its preparations to think about, and surely you worry for General Ike."

The woman nodded and sighed, "Yes, I certainly do."

--

_The queen hurriedly descended the staircase that led to the lowest floor of her castle. Behind her, she could hear her bodyguard grumbling to keep up with her quick pace. She smiled to herself at Geoffrey's discomfort, but she made no effort to slow down; she had just received word that the Greil Mercenaries had arrived, and she was quite eager to see them - not to mention that the unannounced visit caused much worry to her mind._

_As she stepped onto the landing and headed down the long corridor, she took note of the heavy rain pelting her palace. _Ike and his company will be soaked,_ she concluded, hastening her pace. _They shall be in a great hurry to get to their rooms - I can't afford to waste time.

_She arrived in the foyer to find her suspicions confirmed. The mercenaries' party had dismantled, and many of its members had gone upstairs for the night. Standing in the doorway of the entrance to her castle, she spotted Ike, Mia, and Ranulf collecting the cloaks their companions had strewn about the room. Droplets of water fell from the soaked garments, splashing onto the stone floor the Crimea Castle. The young queen felt a knight's hand on her shoulder; glancing up, she spied Geoffrey observing his sister and Soren staring out at the landscape._

_"General Ike," the coarse voice of the Royal Knights' Commander boomed throughout the foyer suddenly. The general glanced up from his work to notice that the queen and her bodyguard had entered the room. Lucia glanced back at her brother and milk-sister, noting the stern look upon her sibling's face._

_"Geoffrey, Elincia," the cobalt blue-haired man greeted them, assuming familiarity with the two. "I apologize for the late visit - my company and I were on our way north to the sea when the storm came in."_

_"I see," the queen commented, "and it is no problem. If I may ask, why were you traveling to the coast?"_

_"Well," the commander mused, scratching the back of his neck, "Soren, Ranulf, and I are planning to...leave Tellius."_

_Elincia's jaw dropped at the suggestion. She was not sure whether or not she was more surprised that he would leave the continent or that he would be so...reckless. Then again, being reckless was his specialty. In this long moment of silence, Geoffrey took the opportunity to focus back on his sister. The azure-haired woman's eyes were downcast, as if she had just lost something dear to her. He turned his attention to Soren, whom was still watching the raging storm. The woman's brother frowned, realizing her pain. One glance over at Mia revealed to the man that she felt a similar way about the subject._

_"My lord Ike," the queen suddenly interjected, "where do you plan to, ah, go?"_

_"I don't know," the Vanguard replied. "Anywhere that the sea takes us, I suppose."_

_The woman nodded solemnly. "I understand," she said, the tone of her voice hinting sadness. "You and your company are welcome to stay here as long as it is needed."_

_Another silence followed, broken suddenly by Geoffrey. "Your Highness, you need your rest - we all need our rest," the knight commented, his gaze once again falling on his elder sister._

_Ignoring the general's comment, the sage by the door grumbled, "I'm going to put the horses away. Your stablehands can't do anything." The rest of the occupants watched as the man scrambled out into the pouring rain angrily._

_"Don't mind Soren," Ranulf chuckled. "He isn't too thrilled about the idea of leaving Tellius."_

_"You're forcing him to go?" the heiress of Delbray inquired, raising an eyebrow at the commander of the Greil Mercenaries._

_"Never," he mumbled. "Soren has the option to stay in Tellius if he wants."_

_"He's just too loyal to Ike to leave his side," Mia chimed in. "He says he has no reason to stay if Ike goes." The blue-eyed woman took this into careful consideration as she continued to stare out at the storm, observing that it would soon pass. She remained in the same place long after her companions had retreated to the confines of their bedchambers._

_--_

Elincia was snapped back into reality when she heard the door to her chambers swing closed. The woman turned around to be greeted by her future-husband, his blue armor enveloping his torso. His fiancée feigned a smile as he approached her. "I thought you were taking your mare out to be exercised," she commented.

The man shrugged as he wrapped his arms around her. "Lucia said that she wanted to do it - something about wanting time to think," he informed her. She sighed, wishing that she, too, had the time and space to think.

--

The young aide to the queen of Crimea set her brother's horse into one last fast-paced gallop around the lea. The wind blew her shoulder-length azure hair wildly as she raced past the familiar landmarks of her homeland. She turned the mare in a half-circle as they neared the lake, directing her back towards the stables.

She ran her fingers through the mount's ivory mane as she dismounted and led the animal inside its stall. She glanced around, thankful that none of the stableboys were on hand at this time. She slipped into the stall with her brother's horse and lifted its saddle off, carrying it to the next building. She placed the object on a shelf in the storehouse and returned to the mare, toting a large brush.

She set to work grooming the animal, her mind wandering far beyond its frequent concern for the welfare of Crimea. Her thoughts drifted to the night before Ike's company had left Tellius - the night she had spoken with Soren after he had returned from these very stables.

--

_When the raven-haired sage returned from his escape to the horse stalls, the entire castle seemed to be motionless. He passed the sentries on duty as the rain slowly began to disintegrate into tiny, infrequent droplets. He neglected to remove his cloak upon his entrance into the palace; instead, he quickly made his way toward the royal library._

_As he passed through the throne room, he spotted a woman standing on the balcony. He sighed at the sight of her aquamarine hair and meagerly-clad figure. He opened the door leading out to where she was and closed it quietly behind him, noticing that she did not even flinch. A raindrop hit his nose as he moved next to her, leaning a few feet away from her on the railing._

_"Are you trying to make yourself ill?" he asked her with as much humor as he could muster._

_"Hm? Oh, Master Soren," she mumbled, turning to face him. "I hadn't even noticed that you had come out here..."_

_"As I figured," he muttered. "You should get inside," he added, wrapping his cloak around her shoulders and leading her back through the castle's entrance. She shivered as a cool gust of night air swept into the throne room, prompting her companion to shut the door forcefully. After the task was completed, he turned back to her and queried, "Why were you out there anyway?"_

_She followed him as he began making his way to the library, as he had originally intended. "I was just...thinking, I suppose," she said with a shrug. "You know that after you, Ike, and Ranulf leave Tellius, we'll be at a great disadvantage."_

_"Always thinking about Crimea, aren't you?" he muttered, setting foot into the royal library. He began filing through the books on the shelf nearest the entrance._

_"Of course," she replied, brushing past him to a different row and grabbing a large, green book from the shelf. "Here," she continued, handing the tome to him. "We've rearranged the library since your last visit."_

_He examined the leather-bound cover with _In flagrante delicto_ written in gold letters on the cover. He nodded his approval and mumbled a simple, "Thanks." The woman watched as the sage took a seat in one of the chairs around a large, round table in one corner of the library._

_She was about to leave as he opened the tome and began leafing through its pages; however, she suddenly stopped and turned back around. "Soren," she interrupted his thoughts. The mage looked up at her expectantly. "Why are you really leaving Tellius?"_

_He shrugged, his facial expressions unchanged. "I go wherever Ike goes," he replied simply._

_"Why? You could accomplish so much if you would just break free of him!" she exclaimed, desperately fighting back the urge to tell him that she did not wish for him to go. _This is his decision, not yours_, she reminded herself._

_The man raised an eyebrow in question. "Is it not the same with you and Elincia?" he asked bluntly. "She holds back your talents, but you stand by her because that's what you were raised to do."_

_She sighed, realizing his point. "I suppose we have something in common, then."_

_--_

Soft footsteps alerted the swordswoman of the approaching man. Turning around, she was met by the sight of her Arch Sage husband, lemon tart held in his right hand. "For you, my inamorata," the blonde man commented, bowing deeply. "The chefs I have persuaded to incorporate only the most succulent of all fruits, the finest of all doughs, and --"

"Thank you, Bastian," she interrupted, smiling half-heartedly as she took the dessert from him and he kissed her forehead.

--

The young swordswoman's body was sprawled out parallel to the edge of the ocean. Her form rested stomach-down on the damp sand as a cool breeze blew over the Greil Mercenaries' vacation spot. One hand was propped up, allowing her to rest her head on it while she absentmindedly drew figures in the hardened sand.

She sighed. He had left her, though she couldn't claim to be surprised one bit. She had never clearly expressed her feelings to him, though she often tried. The truth was - her feelings were just too vague and indescribable for her to put into words. She wasn't even sure that she could make sense of them, so what would make her believe that he could grasp this concept of her heart?

Yet, Ranulf was all she could manage to think about. Ever since he had left Tellius to accompany Ike and Soren on their perilous journey, her mind often wandered to him. She should have told him, she concluded. If she had only let him know, she would not be faced with such a dilemma. Had the fear of rejection, the uneasiness about the possibility of him thinking her to be mad, the apprehension of someone else knowing her feelings not stopped her, Mia could had ended her heartache. Rather, she sat idly by, admiring the laguz from a distance - never letting him break down the wall that so strongly separated and guarded her heart from the rest of the world.

--

_The transformed cat laguz sat atop a boulder on the outskirts of Crimea Castle that dawn after they had arrived, quietly basking in the sunlight that emerged from the canopy of leaves surrounding him. He had stalked the perimeter of the palace, wandering to this vast woodland that reminded him of home. In the largely beorc nation of Crimea, simple comforts such as this were scarce. He licked his paw, rubbing it to his face in an attempt to remove the blood that had been caked into his fur after a training exercise with General Ike._

_The smell of metal brought him back into reality. His ears perked up, giving their full attention to his surrounding area. His keen ears perceived a woman's voice in the distance; his nose became more aware of the steel that polluted the air. Wrinkling his nose, the cat grudgingly followed the foul scent to its source._

_In a small clearing of the forest, he found a green-eyed swordmaster slashing away at one of the tall oak trees surrounding them. Her violet hair was disheveled and unkempt, plastered on her face as she fiercely jabbed the trunk of the tree. The cat transformed back to his human form and shook his head sadly at the sight. "Mia!" he shouted abruptly, startling the woman and causing her to spin around suddenly. The laguz noticed as her shoulders slumped slightly at the sight of him. "Disappointed, are you?"_

_"Not at all," she mumbled in a tone that he noticed was too void of the emotion she usually expressed. "I had just hoped to find my white-clad rival today!" she exclaimed with more enthusiasm._

_The cat nodded. "I see," he replied with a grin. "As you can see, I am not the person which you seek. Now, I will allow you to get back to your training- General Ike would have it no other way, correct?"_

_"Ranulf, wait," she interjected as he began to transform back into his animal form. He stopped, staring at her expectantly. "You...You're leaving with the boss tonight, right?" He nodded in response. Mia fumbled with words for a moment before sighing. "Be careful, okay?"_

_--_

The woman brushed away the hair that had fallen before her eyes. She glanced longingly at the images she had outlined in the sand. Beside a large heart, she had sketched a flapped headband with soft cat ears protruding from it.

--

The three men stood on the deck of their ship, staring out at the rolling sea. They had managed to sail to the side of the world opposite Tellius, but nothing had they to show of their achievement. They would never again hear from the ones they had left behind, nor would they ever have any company aside from each other. Their accomplishments yielded nothing beneficial to them, and as they slowly rotted away, they were constantly reminded of the people of Tellius and the lives they could have had had they not chosen this path.

--

_**A/N: **__See, Megan, I didn't kill anyone...I only _implied_ death! Anyway, Felicem Natalem (tibi exopto), consobrina!_


End file.
